Ditto !
Cheers - Phil

Jack, enjoyed the report. In looking through your blog I didn't find the rules that you use. Are the commercial or your own?

Ronan - Hey buddy, how are you?  I've been keeping an eye on your blog, no gaming lately eh?      Hope you're able to get some more games in soon.

Lemmey and Phil - Thanks guys, it's always appreciated, hope you liked the fight.

D Guy - I use a commercial set of rules known as "5Core," which is a system put out by a guy named Ivan Sorenson (he hangs out on TMP and The Wargames Website).  There are rules for skirmish level ("Five Men In Normandy"), company level (5Core Company Command), and brigade level (5Core Brigade Commander), as well as various sci-fi adaptations.  He also has another system, '...End in Sight.'  'No End in Sight' are his WWII to present rules, 'No Stars in Sight' his sci-fi rules.

In any case, I use 5Core pretty much exclusively these days; I've played about 100 battles at skirmish, platoon, company, and battalion level with them, and they think they're fantastic.  You can get them pretty cheap as a PDF from The Wargame Vault.

V/R,
Jack

All,

It's 1830 on 18 April 1990, and Task Force Trojas is a flurry of activity.  Turk and Panda of Team 6-2 were captured approximately two and a half hours ago, and Lt Mikey Trojas, the Task Force commander, has been working non-stop to retrieve his men.  First and foremost is the issue of location; where would Demjanovic's Tigers, the Serbian commandos that captured the Cuban Special Forces men, decide to take Mikey's men?

Mikey immediately met with the Cronistrian Democract President, Andraz Gregor, and the head of his military, General Miroslav Denis, both of whom pledged their support.  Mikey impressed upon them the urgency; Mikey figures the Serbs' most likely course of action is either to interrogate then execute Turk and Panda, or whisk them out of Cronistria and back to Serbia as soon as possible.  In either case, time is of the essence.  Mikey informed the President and the General that his Task Force is acting to find Turk and Panda: Team 6-1 is on the street pressing its HUMINT sources for any word of their location, and 626-Forward's SIGINT element has discovery of Turk and Panda's location as its top priority.  Gregor and Denis agree to immediately press their informants, moles in the Yugoslavian Army, Cronistrian National Card, and Cronistrian People's Army, and to use Cronistrian Democratic Militia to aggressively scout for the location of Turk and Panda.

Within 45 minutes a TF Trojas source pointed to the area southeast of the capital city of Miran.  626-Forward's SIGINT element did some pattern analysis and laid good odds that the missing CLEF members were being held at the FRY (Yugoslav Army) base near the village of Petroika, five miles southeast of Miran.  And then General Gregor's men came through: a mole in the FRY, stationed at Petroika, walked off base, found a payphone, and breathlessly reported to his handler that '...two of our friends were just brought to the base by the Serb scum, and one is hurt pretty bad.'  CDM scouts were able to confirm on VHF that there was increased activity at Petroika, and the Serbs were present there as well.  Shortly thereafter SIGINT traffic showed a Serb Lieutenant at Petroika contact Major Demjanovic in Miran, and then Demjanovic immediately radioed Belgrade.

Mikey: "Get your stuff together, I think this is it."And with that, a detachment of CDM troops and the remnants of TF Rojas loaded into trucks for movement to Petroika.  Once there, Mikey met with President Gregor's nephew, who had just debriefed the CDM mole in the FRY's Petroika garrison.  Gregor's nephew pointed out the building Turk and Panda were being held in, and informed Mikey a Serb interrogation team had just arrived and begun working them over.  Mikey then convened a meeting of the small unit leaders, in which he literally drew his plan in the dirt.  His initial inclination was to leave Rock and Bolt, the two remaining members of Team 6-3, back at base camp, but they pleaded to be a part of the mission and so he gave them the thumbs up.  So the mission would go down in three phases:

1.  The initial breach: Tico and Bear of Team 6-2 would lead one squad of CDM troops to force a hole in the FRY's base perimeter.  Team 6-4, along with attachments from 6-3 (Rock and Bolt) would infiltrate through the penetration towards the target building.  Team 6-2/CDM 1st Squad would continue to demonstrate in order to draw enemy attention.

2.  Team 6-4 (plus attachments) make the direct action assault on the target building to secure Turk and Panda.

3.  Team 6-4+ departs objective area for rally point.  All teams rendezvous at rally point, return to base, with Team 6-1 covering withdrawal.

-CDM 2nd and 3rd Squads take up blocking positions along fast routes into Petroika in order to keep enemy QRF from Miran from reinforcing.

-Team 6-1 takes up position near initial breach and is assault force reserve.

**Game note: 1, 2, and 3 above are played out as three separate games.  This batrep is for #1 above.


CLEF and CDM forces approach the line of departure, with FRY defenses in the background.  To see how it turned out, please check the blog at:
http://cubalibrewargame.blogspot.com/2016/01/cuba-libre-cronistria-fight-8.html

Well, the first phase of the operation is finished, next is on to the target building for the actual In Extremis Hostage Rescue mission, conducted to secure Turk and Panda, currently being interrogated by a Serbian team.  I've already played this, just need to write it up; I'm hurrying!

V/R,
Jack

Alas poor Blue, we hardly knew ya!

Good report again, Jack. 
Cheers - Phil

All,

It's 1845 on 18 April 1990, and Team 6-4 (plus two men of 6-2) is on the move.  Tico, Blue, and a squad of Cronistrian Democrat Militia (CDM) just blasted a hole in the perimeter of the enemy base at Petroika, and now Team 6-4+ is on the way to the building where Turk and Panda are being held by members of Demjanovic's Tigers, a Serbian commando battalion.  There are also members of the Yugoslavian Army in the area.


Redrum leads the charge on the target building.  He did very well for himself today, earning the Bronze Star with V.  To see how the fight went, please check the blog at:
http://cubalibrewargame.blogspot.com/2016/02/cuba-libre-cronistria-fight-9.html

So right now Rooey, Redrum, Goss, Bolt, and Turk are operating the enemy APC to escape with Blade, Rock, and Panda out of action in the troop hold.  But Serb commandos are moving to intercept them as we speak, so stay tuned for the next batrep.

V/R,
Jack

Good one Jack

Great looking battle, as always, Jack.

Cheers - Phil.

That's great scenery!

Thanks fellars.

V/R,
Jack

" I just got incredibly lucky with some very good/bad die rolling "

Yes you were ! 

All,

It's 1545 on 2 June 1990, and war in Cronistria is entering a new phase.  To date, Task Force Trojas has conducted Unconventional Warfare missions with its A-Teams while its B Team trained recruits of the Cronistrian Democrat Militia (CDM) to battle the communists, i.e., the uniformed Cronistrian National Guard (CNG) and the rag-tag Cronistrian People's Army (CPA).  The first battalion of Democrat Militia has been trained and TF Trojas A-team personnel are serving in leadership roles as the B-Team continues to train more men.  The Cronistrian Democrat President, Andraz Gregor, has a nephew in the CDM.  The nephew has fought several battles at TF Trojas' side, and has accounted himself very well.  And so Sasha Kukoc has been given the rank of Captain and made a company commander in the 1st CDM Battalion.

It's time to take the fight to the enemy.  Cronistria is a small, sparsely populated nation, with the major urban center being the capital city of Miran.  Cronistria's fate largely rests on who will ultimately control Miran, and so the CDM Battalion, centered in outlying rural areas, has begun patrolling into the villages lying on the outskirts of the capital.  One such village, lying just southwest of Miran, was about to become a flashpoint; a minor battle that would become a test of wills.

And so Captain Kukoc wasn't expecting much when he and SSgt Escalante ("Blade") led Alpha Company's 2nd Platoon into the village of Brevno, but the show had just begun.


The village of Brevno, north is up.  The locals spotted trouble coming from both east and west and left town.  The village had been untouched by the war; the Inn at top left, the Post Office at top center, Apartments at top right, the City Office at bottom right, and the Manor at bottom left.  A few trees, hedges, haystacks, market stands, and a single (inoperable) automobile dot the otherwise pristine landscape.

This is the magnificent new City Set from Crescent Root, in 15mm. To see how the fight went, please check the blot at:
http://cubalibrewargame.blogspot.com/2016/04/cuba-libre-cronistria-fight-10.html

What a fight, and what a perfect start to this portion of the campaign!  The boy and I had a great time, lots of back and forth, and really it all came down to my being lucky with Captain Kukoc taking the Post Office despite being outnumbered and getting fired at several times at point blank range.

I didn't get any gaming in this weekend, just trying to get caught up on the batreps.  So stay tuned, there are three more to go.

V/R,
Jack

Geeat report, but what medals were dished out to the boy's boys? Fairs fair, time for him to add to the narrative!;)

T'riffic, again, Jack ! 

Cheers - Phil

Damn Lemmey, I was hoping you were tracking casualties, promotions, and awards for the boy's troops I'm just one man!!!

And thanks Phil, I'm glad you liked it.

V/R,
Jack

All,

It's 0715 on 3 June 1990, and Captain Kukoc has ordered GySgt Dos Santos to take a patrol from his 1st Platoon, Alpha Company, back into the village of Brevno to ascertain the enemy situation there.  Yesterday the Cronistrian Democrats of the CDM and the Communists of the CNG had fought a meeting engagement there, before both sides pulled back and shelled the village.


The Democrat patrol advances from the left, the Communist patrol from the right.  The ville is looking a little worse for wear.

The village of Brevno, north is up.  The locals spotted trouble coming from both east and west and left town.  The village consists of the Inn at top left, the Post Office at top center, Apartments at top right, the City Office at bottom right, and the Manor at bottom left.  A few trees, hedges, haystacks, market stands, and a single (inoperable) automobile dot the landscape.  Democrat artillery has struck the Apartment Building, while Communist artillery struck the Inn.

To see how the fight went, please check the blog at:
http://cubalibrewargame.blogspot.com/2016/04/cuba-libre-cronistria-fight-11.html

Another fun fight, two more to get posted before this weekend.

V/R,
Jack

Another great report, Jack. 

Cheers - Phil

Another cool scrap! 

your terrain is getting better and better, jack !